Grading and ditching machine



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.-

M. SWANSON.

GRADING AND DITGHING MACHINE.

No. 402,781. Patented May 7, 1889..-

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. GRADING AND DITOHING MACHINE; No. 402,781. Patented May '7, 1889.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

M. SWANSON.

GRADING AND DITGBIING MACHINE.

No. 402,781. Patented May '7, 1889. I

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g UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

.MARTIN SW'ANSON, OF CROOKSTON, MINNESOTA.

GRADING AND DITCHING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 402,781, dated. May 7, 1889.

Application filed June 4, 1888. Serial No. 275,910. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARTIN SWAN SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Crookston, in the county of Polk and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in. Grading and Ditching Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Myinvention relates to devices for grading and ditching lands, and has for its object the provision of a power-machine for this purpose which shall possess novel features of construction and combination of parts by reason of which the machine shall be capable of cutting a most symmetrical channel or ditch and delivering the soil so out either, upon the side of the ditch or back into the channel, after allowing space and time for tile to be laid between the cutting and the delivery of the material back into the ditch.

Various other capabilities and features of utility are attained by reason of the novel construction and combination of parts, as will be fully understood from the following detailed description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate what I consider the best means for carrying my invention into practice.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the same. Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the ditcher attached to a Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the machine as adapted for drain-tile laying. Fig. 6 is a rear elevation witl1 certain parts removed, showing the gearing. Fig. 7 is a section of the ditching cylinder or wheel, showing the dirt guards or covers. Fig.8 is an end view of the elevator. Fig. 9 is a plan view of the feeding device which is attached to the engine.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where they occur.

A is the truck or frame upon which the ditching or grading mechanism is supported.

P P are the wheels of said truck, located at the rear end thereof. The forward end of the truck A is provided with means for coupling it to an engine or other propelling power.

0 C are standards supported upon frame or truck A, and B is the frame of the ditching mechanism. This frame B is provided with standard rack-bars F F, coinciding with and guided in the standards 0. Pinions w w, mounted in standards 0 0 upon a shaft extending to both standards, are operated to raise and lower the rack-bars and with them the ditching mechanism. A hand-wheel, Q, upon the shaft afiords means for operating the pinions w w by hand, and a stop, R, serves to lock the hand-wheel when desired.

The frame or truck A, being wider than the frame B, will ride upon the surface of the ground while the ditching is carried on between its two sides, the ditching mechanism being lowered, as already described, to cut any desired depth.

The ditching mechanism will now be described.

The main portion of the ditch is made by a revoluble cylinder or wheel, D, which is provided at suitable points on its periphery with cutting hoes or knives s s, which, when the cylinder is turned in the direction indicated by arrows in Fig. 1, will throw the dirt upon the elevator G, by which it is carried off. The hoes s s are preferably triangular in shape, as shown in Fig. 3, the points .9 s entering the soil first. The digger D cuts the channel or ditch and may be used alone to do the digging; but to make a clean sloping side I employ another cutting device, which consists of angular knives K, rotated to cut the sides of the ditch into a sloping shape, and the stationary inclined finishing-knives J, which smooth the sides and finish the ditch.

The cylinder D is revolved by means of a pinion, I, working in a eogged rim in the interior of the cylinder or wheel, which pinion is supported on a shaft held in hangers on frame B and provided at its outer end with a 5 pinion, I, which meshes with a gear on the main shaft T. The counter-shaft, on which the pinion I is mounted, also bears a sprocketwheel, L, from which a chain runs to the sprocket-wheel L on shaft X, which carries" the knives K K, and gives it rotation whenever the machine is in operation. Shaft Tis IOO revolved by means of a chain or belt from the engine, which runs over the wheel or pulley M on one end of said shaft.

The elevator G is supported at its lower end by the knives J J, which thus are made to serve the double purpose of finishing the sides of the ditch and forming braces or supports for the elevator. The elevator G is operated by means of a pulley on a cross-shaft, V*, which receives motion by means of a chain over sprocket U from sprocket U on main shaft T. Shaft V is geared toa shaft, TV, by gears 'U' r, and this in turn is geared to the extension-elevator O bybevel-gears V V. The elevator G carries the dirt up from the bottom of the ditch and delivers it upon the elevator O, which in ordinary ditching is set at right angles to elevator G, so as to carry the dirt from it out to the side of the ditch.

It is evident that the elevator 0 may be arranged to deliver on either side of the ditch, in which case the bevel-gears V would be shifted to the opposite side of the machine.

Vhen it is desired to deliver the material back into the ditch, as where it is intended to lay drain-tile, the bevel-gears V are dispensed with, the elevator O is set in line with elevator G, as shown in Fig. 5, and pinions H H take the place of the bevel-gears V. In this arrangement the knives K and J are dispensed with, and vertical braces or supports g are employed to support the lower end of elevator G. The same form of cutter or digger D is employed. In using the machine for this purpose it is drawn forward in the same manner as when a permanent open ditch is to be dug, and the sufficient time and space are afforded between the time the earth is dug by part D and delivered upon elevator G and the time when it is delivered from the rear of elevator O to lay in the tile, when the discharge from rear end of elevator O refills the trench, and the entire work is performed at one operation and the dirt is handled but once. lVhen it is desired, the wheel or cylinder D may have dirt-guards Z Z on its sides, as shown in Fig. '7, to prevent the dirt from get-ting into the eogged rim 011 the inner periphery of the wheel. Guard Z is fixed to the whee1 D and revolves with it. Guard Z is stationary, the counter-shaft passing through it, as shown in said figure.

The elevator G is provided with sloping guiding-walls G, which catch the dirt as it is thrown up by the digger and direct it upon the elevator.

In Figs. a and 9 is shown the feeding device, and in Fig. at its connection with the en gine is shown. By means of this feeder an even progression of the machine is produced. 1 is the drlvmg-wheel of the engine, and 1 is the driving wheel. of the feeding device.

These pulleys or wheels are connected by a belt. On the same shaft with pulley 1 is the sprocket M, from which power is communicated to sprocket M on the ditcher. A system of gearing, 2, 3, and 2 and 3, transmits the power to capstan 7, around which the rope is wound as it is taken up in the progression of the machine. A spool, 6, above the capstan 7 is moved in unison therewith by belt over flanged pulleys 4c and 5, and receives the rope or cable from capstan 7, thus forming a check or lock thereupon. At the opposite end the rope is attached to a post or pin, 8.

It will be understood that this feeding device can be used with any machine requiring this form of feed, and I do not desire to be understood as limiting myself to its use with the ditcher herein described and shown.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1.. A digger or cutter for ditching and gradin machines, consisting of a revoluble wheel or cylinder having hoes on its periphery and closed ends, as set forth.

2. A digger or cutter for d itching and grading machines, consisting of a revoluble wheel or cylinder having hoes on its outer periphery and a cogged rim on its inner periphery, and guards, as described, for its ends, in combination with a driving-gear meshing into the cogged rim, as set forth.

The combination, with the digger, of the rotating angular knives K, whereby the sides of the ditch are cut into a sloping shape, substantially as specified.

4. The combination with the digger and the rotating angular knives, of the stationary knives, which serve in eonj unction with the rotating knives to slope the walls of the ditch and also to support the lower portion of the elevator, substantially as specified.

5. The combination, with the digger D, of the sideshaping knives K and the inclined stationary fi nishing-knives J, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination, with rotatable knives, as K, set at an inclination, as described, of the inclined stationary finishing-knives J, as set forth.

'7. The combination of a digger, as D, rotatable knives, as K, elevator G, and finishingknives J, fastened to the lower end of the elevator and serving both as knives and as supports or braces, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

l\lARTlN SlVANSON.

\Vitn esses:

CHAs. VAN ARSDALE, GEORGE J. McMAnUs.

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